Feb 2012

Finally cold hits Atlanta. Today  we got 18F!

My friend came over and modeled a shawl for me. I love the color of the yarn (Madelinetosh merino light, color Robin's egg) and it looks great on her.

The pattern is Asami's beautiful  Feathered Wings Shawls . I messed up the number of the rows and it turned a little smaller than it was supposed to be, but I just love it.


I used 1 and half skeins for the shawl and I used the half skein for my Like Sleeves for babies, which now with my friend's little baby girl, Sylvia.

Stay warm everyone, brrrrrr.
ym

Dec 2011

The hat is made free-hand by single crochet hem and knitted cone picked from the hem. Sometimes it is nice to make something totally free-hand without thinking about sts # or gauge ;).  I hope you all have great holidays and have a lot of time enjoying knitting/crocheting! ym

June

Atlanta is always hot in summer.


This year, it has been really hot and dry.


And it is still June.


My garden and kids need to be watered everyday.


And they all grow fast.



I hope you all well,

New pattern: Haru's hooded vest

I'm happy that finally I made something not just for girls!

This is Haru's hooded vest.

It is really a simple pattern with no side seams. The pattern sts seems complicated but really is just 4 rows repeat (includes 2 ws rows with just purls) and easy to memorize. I add inside pockets in the front.

Size: Child 2[4, 6, 8]

with finished chest size 24[26, 28, 30]" (61[66, 71, 76] cm)

Suggested Yarn: Cascade Eco+ [100% wool, 478 yds/437 m per 250 g ball]

Yardage:(MC);33[350, 370, 390], (CC); 140 [140, 160, 160] yds

Gauge: 14 sts = 4" (10 cm)

Pattern PDF is available for sale from

My Website,

or Rvalry.com. 

I'm home

Thank you everyone who supported Japan my pattern. All April sales from Kira's hooded vest were sent to Japanese Red Cross Society on 5/1/11^^)/.

I got to know a lady through Ravelry who makes handmade accessories. I purchased a cute brass pendant from her shop. She also donates some parts of her sales for Japan tsunami relief (actually she's already went to Japan to donate some directly).

She etched a bird on the brass and below the bird's beak, it says in Japanese;

"I'm home"

on the opposite side;

"Welcome home"

They are such simple every day phrases, but make my heart aches thinking about mamy people who cannot even say those now.

There are tiny brass keys also hanging together with the bird and my husband added some of my favorite gem beads for me. I love them all together. Those little charms make pretty tinkling sounds.

Thank you for your beautiful work, Usagiuma-san.

YarnOnTheHouse!

My Kira's Hooded Vest is featured here!

You may already know the wonderful site "YarnOnTheHouse".

Veronika hosts frequent generous giveaways at her blog, organizing KALs. She shares her beautiful FOs and takes such gorgeous photos. It is totally worth to go through her blog archive to just see them all (if you haven't done that already)!

We got to know each other shortly after I released my Kira's Hooded Vest pattern on Feb. She gave me a sweet message and offered me an opportunity to be shown in her blog. I was thrilled!

Then the earthquake hit Japan. Kira is my baby nephew and I couldn't see this pattern anymore without thinking about Kira and all my family and friends in Japan. This pattern became for the donation and now I appreciate even more for Veronica's strong message on her blog.

Thank you so much, Veronika.
It is so sweet of you, your post made me blush (you are the first person who ever said that my patterns are trendy and stylish!!;), and I'm grateful that you share this story.

Please, everyone, keep praying for people in Japan. They have a long way for recovery (they still having big/small aftershocks everyday) and our continuous supports are needed.
My Kira's pattern is here, but also you can directly contribute to Japanese Red Cross Society (English site, Paypal accepted)

Update 10-5-11: Japanese Red Cross Society stopped accepting Paypal donation on 9-30-11.
I'm trying to look other organization which accept Paypal easy for us in outside Japan.

Love xx
yumiko

spring

We moved our current house last summer so we didn't know what would come out from our yard in the spring. We are happily overwhelmed with all the flowers keep popping up in our garden!

We really appreciate the former owner for this beautiful jobs and we appreciate also she gave us a great guardian of the garden (It's you, Butter!).